Encouraging and strengthening marriage continues to move up the U.S. social policy agenda. This analysis uses nationally representative data on cohabiting couples with children from the 2002 round of the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) to assess marriage penalties or bonuses facing...
Retargeting the estate tax to very wealthy households and lowering its rates would blunt much of the criticism against it while retaining many of its advantages. This brief explains how the estate tax works and examines who is affected by it under current law. It discusses how reform would...
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), administered through the federal income tax system, is the largest cash assistance program for low-income families. Data from the 2001 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) show large disparities in who knows about the EITC amongst families with income...
The "automatic 401(k)" is a simple concept with enormous potential. An automatic 401(k) plan would have intelligent defaults at each phase of the 401(k) savings cycle: participation, contribution levels, investment allocations, rollovers, and withdrawal options. Workers would be free to opt out...
Tax programs that provide deductions to homeowners or credits to both builders and owners, greatly exceed direct federal outlays on housing. The beneficiaries of these tax programs tend to be middle-to-upper income families who own their homes while the recipients of outlays tend to be lower...
[USA Today] Before the political momentum for Social Security reform dissipates into a single-minded dispute over how much to trust Americans' retirement wealth to the stock market, or the president goes on the road again to stump for personal accounts, larger questions need attention....
Low-income parents use paid preparers more frequently than other parents. This high reliance may be a good thing. Among low-income parents who know about the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) those who receive help are more likely to receive the EITC than their peers who prepare their returns...
Beginning with his convention acceptance speech, President Bush has been calling for an ‘‘ownership society’’- ‘‘a path to greater opportunity, more freedom, and more control over your own life.’’ Republicans and Democrats alike should welcome this call since in one form or another most have...
Proposals to replace part of Social Security with individual accounts are now a focus of attention, with the President expressing a strong desire to push forward on creating individual accounts within Social Security. This paper considers the appropriate budgetary treatment of proposals to...
The Urban-Brookings microsimulation tax model is a powerful tool for federal tax policy analysis. The model calculates tax liability for a representative sample of households, both under the rules that currently exist (current law) and under alternative scenarios. Based on these calculations,...
Irreconcilable Differences?
Encouraging and strengthening marriage continues to move up the U.S. social policy agenda. This analysis uses nationally representative data on cohabiting couples with children from the 2002 round of the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) to assess marriage penalties or bonuses facing...
Options for Reforming the Estate Tax
Retargeting the estate tax to very wealthy households and lowering its rates would blunt much of the criticism against it while retaining many of its advantages. This brief explains how the estate tax works and examines who is affected by it under current law. It discusses how reform would...
Disparities in Knowledge of the EITC
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), administered through the federal income tax system, is the largest cash assistance program for low-income families. Data from the 2001 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) show large disparities in who knows about the EITC amongst families with income...
The Automatic 401(k): A Simple Way To Strengthen Retirement Saving
The "automatic 401(k)" is a simple concept with enormous potential. An automatic 401(k) plan would have intelligent defaults at each phase of the 401(k) savings cycle: participation, contribution levels, investment allocations, rollovers, and withdrawal options. Workers would be free to opt out...
The Trend in Federal Housing Tax Expenditures
Tax programs that provide deductions to homeowners or credits to both builders and owners, greatly exceed direct federal outlays on housing. The beneficiaries of these tax programs tend to be middle-to-upper income families who own their homes while the recipients of outlays tend to be lower...
Social Security Dialogue Should Be Wide-Ranging
[USA Today] Before the political momentum for Social Security reform dissipates into a single-minded dispute over how much to trust Americans' retirement wealth to the stock market, or the president goes on the road again to stump for personal accounts, larger questions need attention....
Paying the Price?
Low-income parents use paid preparers more frequently than other parents. This high reliance may be a good thing. Among low-income parents who know about the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) those who receive help are more likely to receive the EITC than their peers who prepare their returns...
An Ownership Society or a Society For Those Who Already Own?
Beginning with his convention acceptance speech, President Bush has been calling for an ‘‘ownership society’’- ‘‘a path to greater opportunity, more freedom, and more control over your own life.’’ Republicans and Democrats alike should welcome this call since in one form or another most have...
Should the Budget Exclude the Cost of Individual Accounts?
Proposals to replace part of Social Security with individual accounts are now a focus of attention, with the President expressing a strong desire to push forward on creating individual accounts within Social Security. This paper considers the appropriate budgetary treatment of proposals to...
The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center Microsimulation Model
The Urban-Brookings microsimulation tax model is a powerful tool for federal tax policy analysis. The model calculates tax liability for a representative sample of households, both under the rules that currently exist (current law) and under alternative scenarios. Based on these calculations,...